Framing urban mobility injustice from the Global South

Abstract

This paper presents the Relational Urban Mobility Injustice framework for analysing urban accessibility and mobility, aiming to uncover critical, often overlooked injustices in the mobility system. Through reevaluating transport outcomes, we distinguish regimes of (im)mobility and expose the oppressive interdependence among them that mirrors and reinforces injustices across social groups. Using empirical data from public transport in São Paulo as a proof of concept, we show how transport conditions in terms of fare costs and crowding are shaped by social markers such as class and race. Areas predominantly inhabited by white residents feature lower crowding (below six passengers/m2) and reduced fares (under nine Brazilian reals), whereas zones primarily occupied by lower-class, black residents endure overcrowding and higher fares (over 18 Brazilian reals), inadvertently subsidising transportation for upper class and white areas. These dynamics demonstrate how deeply entwined conditions of precarity and privilege may be within a public transport system. Our argument and findings advocate for a paradigm shift in urban transport research, emphasising the oppression between social groups within the urban mobility systems.